Lucid Sins – Dancing In The Dark
Lucid Sins – Dancing In The Dark
Totem Cat Records
Release Date: 27/10/23
Running Time: 36:20
Review by Dark Juan
9/10
In a staggering bout of grumpiness, I have finally succumbed to the fact that I am a mere mortal and have actually rung the doctor for an appointment because three weeks of hacking up what can only be described as ‘unpleasant alien shit’ from your lungs and being obnoxious to all and sundry has taken a toll, and Dark Juan has started to become concerned about his own health. Mrs Dark Juan also threatened to kill me before any disease could, unless I sorted my head out and called the doctor, so I did as I was bid. Hodgson Biological-Warfare is in the vet’s and I had to go to court directly from work yesterday morning to answer charges about public indecency and heresy. Apparently getting carried away with Twin Temple’s “Let’s Have A Satanic Orgy” and taking it literally in the local parish church is somewhat frowned upon. Who knew?
Anyway, this is the culmination of a shit week all round, health-wise, and Dark Juan is a bad-tempered shitbag and a Very Poor Patient at the best of times. Therefore, it is wise that we conjure the ethereal Platter Of Splatter™ into action and listen to the latest recording from Glasgow’s Lucid Sins… Dark Juan has reviewed this band before (https://www.ever-metal.com/2021/06/07/lucid-sins-cursed/ being the link you need to access the fine piece of descriptive writing in question) and really quite enjoyed their gentle, Folksy Psychedelic Prog with elements of The Doors, Wishbone Ash and a marginally more sober Hawkwind. In fact, the only demerit Dark Juan found on the record was that it had a tendency to go and wander off and ruminate in the middle of songs.
Lucid Sins clearly did not read that review and have doubled down on the exploratory nature of Prog Rock and gone full on Fairport fucking Convention on “Dancing In The Dark”. They have taken the idea of a middle eight and turned it into something completely different. Whereas “Cursed!” had structure and a backbone of solid Hard Rock, “Dancing In The Dark” has chosen Psychedelic Folk Rock as the spine of the music and has a more fluid, dreamy, unfocused feel where sensation and experiencing other states of existence appears to be the primary objectives.
Imagine a softer, more Folksy Blood Ceremony and entrain that with Fairport Convention, The Mamas and Papas and Lucifer and Coven and throw Jim Morrison at it. This is the sound of Lucid Sins – almost pastoral in places yet still achingly cool and hip, without the slightest attempt to be so. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing twee going on here. It’s not all twirling around on one leg wearing a floral shirt and hiding behind your hair while you play a mandolin…
Let me be clear though – Lucid Sins have not sold themselves heart and soul to the things in the forest. They still are able to kick out the proto-Metal vibes with rather more authenticity than say, Ghost. The album opens with ‘Jack Of Diamonds’ and instantly reminds Dark Juan of the hippier aspects of the likes of Blue Oyster Cult, although the music is rather more Psychedelic than Rock ‘n’ Roll, but there is a haunting, slightly unsettling quality to the song that sends shivers along the spine of your ersatz rock hack and the lyrics tell a tale that people need to hear about young Jack and his subsequent fate, for he is a naughty boy. ‘In The Woods (The Drifter)’ is almost Ghost-lite in the verses, what with its knowing nod back to the basic building blocks of Hard Rock and Metal, but with an added ethereal quality that the Swedish faux-Satanists and costume enthusiasts lack in favour of being a living comic book. One thing it is, though, is tremendously groovy. I love the lyrics and I love the storytelling aspect of this song. It is almost a fable set to music, a psilocybin-addled fairytale told by a wise woman on the porch of her forest cottage to travellers and young people.
‘The Dance’ takes us on a whimsical pass through the musical imaginations of Andreas Jonsson and Ruaraidh Sanachan, their fascination with darker things counterpointed by the cheerful tempo and arrangement of the song, both gentlemen clearly being enthralled by whatever muse grips them, chemical or otherwise, ‘Take Me With You’ being a more uptempo affair that fuses a bit of Jazz exploration with Blues Rock and allows Dark Juan to be thrilled by an absolutely kick-ass Hammond organ solo. Dark Juan loves Hammond organ. ‘Sanctuary Stone’ is a full-on electric Folk Rock song complete with an elven female singer, and beguiles and tempts the listener into their strange little occult world with fluid gestures and gentle music pealing from a fairy circle where an impossible beauty waits, aching for your touch…
‘A Call In The Dark’ is arguably the heaviest tune on the record, all moodiness and proto-Doom, with a slow tempo and a vocal delivery that is drawn out and predatory. It is very groovy indeed, like twisted hippies slithering through the shadows to inflict their kind of free love upon the unsuspecting victim of their attentions, all sex and death mingled and intertwined in their fevered, broken imaginations.
To give this most unusual and abstruse record a bit of a summary – if you enjoy music that has the ability to conjure images in your head, you will find much to recommend this album. Dark Juan bloody loves it because his mind’s eye is now a riot of psychedelic rainbows, the devil presiding over naked orgies at a Sabbat in a gorgeous but well-hidden forest glade, humans and elves and dryads all locked together in LSD and mushroom-fuelled sweaty sexual union, the devil smiling benignly down on the debauches beneath him under the light of a full moon – the senses razor-sharp and the slightest touch thrilling beyond all measure, the wrongness of it all feeling SO RIGHT…
If you dig Psychedelia, Folk Rock or just occult stuff in general, then Dark Juan most mightily recommends Lucid Sins to your attention. Metal purists will not get it and doubtless write it off as pretentious crap but don’t listen to them. Lucid Sins are a fine, fine band and deserve to have their unusual Occult Psychedelia heard widely.
The Patented Dark Juan Blood Splat Rating System (an siostam splatter fala le peutant Dark Juan airson caraidean sam bith le Gàidhlig a-muigh an sin! Bet that’s totally wrong but at least I made the effort ha ha ha!) awards the occult sounds of Lucid Sins 9/10 for a record that is totally different than its predecessor yet manages to successfully build on the sound of it, even if it is not quite as heavy or immediate. A sinuous, slithering, sensual record for the followers of darker things…
TRACKLISTING:
01. Jack Of Diamonds
02. In The Woods (The Drifter)
03. The Dance
04. Take Me With You
05. Sanctuary Stone
06. A Call In The Dark
07. The Toll
08. From The Bough
09. The Raven’s Eye
10. Catch The Wild
LINE-UP:
Andreas Jonsson – Vocals, guitars, bass, organ, synthesizer
Ruaraidh Sanachan – Drums, bass, percussion, organ, mellotron, recorder, backing vocals
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Dark Juan and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
